New York Giants Win Home Opener

Game played last night (winner in bold):

St. Louis Rams (0-2) 16 at New York Giants (1-1) 28

The score is misleading because it makes it seem the game was closer than it was; at no point did St. Louis come close to taking the lead back after the Giants’ first touchdown. As a Giants fan, sometimes I do better with a periodic game check instead of watching the whole game. Last night was no exception, although I watched most of it. Several times I thought the Giants got lucky, but then I thought about the quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The Giants were able to score after two Rams errors.

The Rams led briefly, scoring first with a field goal. The Giants answered with a touchdown, and then the Rams second field goal in the first quarter brought them within 1 point of the Giants. The Giants had two touchdowns in the second quarter, and the teams went into the locker rooms with the score 6-21.

The third quarter saw the Rams score a field goal (9-21), the Giants score a touchdown (9-28), and then the Rams got a touchdown (16-28).  Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

The Giants and the Rams were both abysmal on third down conversions. The Giants went 5/15 (33%), while the Rams were 5/17 (29%). The Giants did not convert on their one fourth down attempt; the Rams were able to convert on fourth down, during the scoring drive in the third quarter that resulted in a touchdown.

The biggest game killers for St. Louis were fumbles and penalties. The Giants did not fumble; St. Louis had 4 fumbles and lost 2 of them. The Giants had 5 penalties for 55 yards; St. Louis had 8 penalties for 85 yards.

Tom Coughlin won both challenges last night; his percentage before the game was 40 wins out of 80 challenges, for a .500 average (the highest of any coach). He is now 42 of 82, increasing his average to .51.

Next week the Giants play the Eagles in Philadelphia at 1:00. The Rams host the Baltimore Ravens at home – game time is 4:05. The Sunday night game is Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts. The Monday night game is Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys.